Real Talk... · 1:53am Jan 13th, 2020
...does word count affect how likely potential readers will, y'know, actually read it?
I ask, because I've been eyeing how the latest fic I've posted, "End Realm," has been bouncing around up and down the Popular Stories list on the front page since it went live. Which I certainly can't complain to, but I keep looking at it and thinking, "darn it, decide whether you're hitting the feature box or not already, and stop teasing me about it!" 
Observing this, however, got me wondering if there was any particular reason why readers for it seem to be...intermittent, and going back through past fics I've written, I've noticed that the stories that start out with a word count either in total or for its first chapter of under about 10,000 words seem to have a better chance of performing than those that don't.
Now, I don't want anybody reading too much into why I'm asking this, because it's not that I'm feeling miffed about it, not really. I like to think that I'm content enough knowing that whatever readers who did read it still enjoyed it, and that's always been my end goal with writing, to produce a story I can be happy knowing people enjoyed reading. At the very least, it hasn't stopped me from being motivated into doing more, clearly. But every writer always secretly hopes that every work they put so much time and effort into will turn out to be a rousing success and thus are always a little...let down...if and when it doesn't ever happen.
And we all know there's numerous and often random factors for why one fic might get everybody's attention while another does not that has nothing to do with quality, things like the site's algorithms manages it all, the time of day in the week, what other fics are already trending at the time, how many other fics are uploaded at the same time, and so on. And sometimes you just have to relent to the real fact that occasionally fics will slip through the cracks and you have to live with that.
Still...I can't help but notice a pattern, and I've had readers in the past complain about whether or not the word count for a fic is above a certain point, so I feel it's a valid enough a question to ask--does word count affect how likely you are to read a fic? Are you less likely to do so if it's above a certain amount? How high is a "high" word count? Does breaking it up into chapters, to give the illusion of a smaller word count, help overcome that? Does that matter seeing FimFiction has a bookmark feature that allows you to "save" your spot anywhere in a given story?
I personally have always had a bone to pick about those that are bothered by high word counts, as to me, it's less the word count and the quality of the story overall that should be more important. Beyond that, the story should be allowed to use however many words it needs to so to tell a story. But then, if I'm being totally honest, I have to admit there has been times I've turned down the chance to read a potential fic of interest simply because that word count was high enough I knew I'd have to dedicate some time to getting through it that I can't be sure I can spare the time to do it, which reminds me that there's valid real life reasons people might have to avoid fics of high word count and it's not out of malice, so maybe I should be considering it more.
So I figure I might as well ask for people's thoughts on this, see if I could start a discussion about it. Does a high word count affect how likely you are or are not to read a fic? And if so, any ideas on how I might better address it, without, you know, resorting to the whole "just write shorter fics, dude" suggestion. 
I personally consider 5K to be the "ceiling" of sorts for the "shorter" fics—anything longer than that, and I feel the urge to actively set some time aside to read the whole thing through in a single sitting.
I do think breaking it up into multiple chapters would be beneficial—doing that might help make reading it feel less like an "all or nothing" sort of deal, if that makes any sense.
I don't know about others, but for me, it doesn't really affect how likely I am to read a story. There are a few stories that I've bypassed because of excessively low word count that I've thrown to the side, but not many. I only really read Spike Fics and it really matters what Spike is like that makes me read or not read it. Another key point is the description and picture, the first story of yours that I've read, Grief, had a great description and picture and that's really what caught my eye, not the word count. The quality of story matters to me too.
I personally prefer longer stories. I like being in for the long haul of a novel. I've never been fond of short stories, no time to get attached to the characters or the events happening. That's not to say they are not good, just not my cup of tea.
Now one of my favorites to read is Diaries of a Madman. It's at almost 3mil words and each chapter update is around 10-30k words. Now obviously this is an extreme example because a monster of that size takes a lot of time and dedication that not everybody has (both writer and reader).
What I like out of a lengthy story is to get attached to the main cast and the happenings around them, to see them grow and become better (or worse) than they once were. Have them go through many events/trials, not just one. Best personal examples being DoaMM, Tales of the Oppressed, and the Savage Skys series. And of course GitPWP does that very well too.
I am also biased for longer individual chapters too. I dont like it when I see chapters that are only like 800-1000 words long, they feel way too short and events feel too cut up for the sake of getting updates out faster. I like seeing 2000-3000+ word chapter updates. Scyphi, some of your chapters get up to 10-20k long, and I love those because I can go "ah man, some real shit is going to go down this one", they get me hyped. And me personally, I'm fine waiting longer for a large chapter than getting small weekly chapters. I'd rather get it all at once.
Again, this is all just based on my personal preference. I read fast and read for hours on end, so I burn through stories fast. I always hate it when I get through an entire story within a day or so, because then it just comes and goes on my list of stuff to read.
Mmmm
Length in a story depends.
In 1 chapter stories, most would expect something meaty like 5k and above , but short and sweet is also preferable like 1.5k - 2.5k.
In multi-chapter stories 'I' personally ignore ANY story that has chapters that have 500 - 800 words per chapter.
I know this is a weakness in me, but i have been burned by stories like that.
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I'm thinking I will try that next go-around, see if that makes any notable difference. It certainly couldn't hurt, as it's not like the end word count changes any.
The only problem is that I'll have to consciously write in good "breaking points" in the story itself for that, which isn't that hard, but can be easy to overlook in the heat of the writing (which is why I had opted not to with "End Realm," because I had written it envisioning it as one whole, unbroken, tale).
If the story is well written, I usually prefer a lengthy tale that I can attach myself to. Although, I almost always get that “empty” feeling when I reach the end. I know I had that after finishing your largest story. Consider that a good thing though.
Not gonna lie, I like to see big word counts. If it turns out to be something I like, it means I've got lots of entertainment for a while :)
If anything I dislike low word counts, simply because there is a lot of good oneshots that, if I don't read when I see it and put it in my Read It Later, will never get read and clog that bookshelf up. I just recently had to go through and dump most everything out of there from the last time I was really actively reading on here in about 2017-2018ish, when anything even remotely interesting went in there to never get touched (or some I read and forgot to take out, oops!).
I'll admit I'm probably not like most readers on the site however. I'm willing to bet that short stories do so well is because people just hop on the front page or whatever way they like to search, find a short and sweet fic, read it, favorite it, and move on to the next. Something to just kill some time, and the algorithm is either set up with this in mind, or just so happens to play the algorithm very well. It kinda makes sense to me, most sites have an algorithm skewed to always showing you new content (think YouTube or Facebook and stuff).